Bo ae =

BEN SWANKEY

Social Credit has done little

to meet Alberta farmers’ needs

IN THIS second of a series
-articles on Social Credit in
Alberta, Ben Swankey deals with
the policies of the Manning gov-
ernment as they affect the farmer.

of

e
Se B.C. Social Credit party is
°

bviously working hard to win
ers in the com-

the votes of farm
elections, and

ing provincial
here, as with labor, the test of

policy is not what is promised
but what is actually done. This
can best be shown by listing
some of the demands of Alberta
farmers and what the Social

Credit government of Premier

Manning has done about them.
A priv-

Rural Electrification:
ate firm. Calgary Power Com-
pany, has @ virtual monopoly on
eirectric power
from the City of Edmonton
where electric power is a public
utility). Calgary Power's Dro-
fits and rates are poth high. It
is extending electricity to the
countryside only where it is
guaranteed a high profit.

For years, Alberta farmers,
through their various organiza-
tions, have .been campaigning
for the provincial government
to take over the electric power
industry, make it a public utili-
ty, supply electric power at cost
and so make possible a wide
extension of rural electrification.
This the government has consis-
tently refused to do. True to
its oft-stated support for “free
enterprise” (which should really
be called “monopoly enterprise’’)
it places the profits of Calgary
Power above the welfare of Al-
berta farmers.

Com jon to Surface
Rights Owners in Oil ‘Areas:
Very few, Alberta farmers have
the mineral rights to their land.
All they have is surface rights.
Some mineral rights are held by
big companies such as the CPR
and the Hundson’s Bay ‘Com-
pany, but the Alberta govern-
ment holds most of them.

The government grants leases
on these mineral rights to - big
American and other oil com-
panies. Under Alberta law these
companies can come onto any
farm, drill practically anywhere
on the farm and there isn’t a
thing the farmer can do to stop
them. All the farmer gets in
compensation is a mere pittance
while the oil companies rake in.
millions from the oil.

The Farmers Union of Alber-
to has been leading the fight for
increased compensation so that

Alberta farmers will get at least
some decent returns when the
oil companies overun their land.
The Social Credit government

@ur Alfie

‘Aye! Aye! We're bein’
followed,’

has turned a deaf ear to all the
Farmers Union’s requests, since
increased compensation would
come out of the profits of the
oil companies and “‘free enter-
prise” is sacred to this govern-
ment.

Alberta Marketing Act: The
B.C. Social Credit election plat-
form calls for improved market-
ing legislation. But do B.C.
farmers know that Alberta and
Quebec are the only provinces
in Canada which so far have re-.
fused to amend their marketing.
legislation so that Producer
Marketing Boards can be set up?
For three years the Farmers
Union of Alberta (FUA) and
the Alberta Federation of Agri-

- culture (AFA) have been de-

manding such amendments but
the. Social Gredit government
won’t listen.

Automobile Insurance: In Al-

MAURICE RUSH

Labor act major issue in

E of the major issues in the

June 12 provincial elections
is labor legislation, Long before
the Coalition boat foundered on;
the rocks of public discontent- .
ment, the trade unions were up
in arms over British Columbia’s
notoriously anti-labor Industrial
Conciliation and Arbitration Act, |
From the beginning the unions
dubbed the ICA Act @ “slave
labor act” and opposed its boss-
inspired provisions,

The main objections the un-
ions. had to the ICA Act were
that it provided for wholesale
intervention by the government
in the affairs of. the unions, par-
ticularly through its certifica-
tion procedures, that it under-
mined labor’s right to strike,
that it violated the principles
of free collective bargaining, and
opened unions to attacks by em-
ployers and the courts.

Labor’s opposition to the act
was so unanimous that the gov-
ernment was finally compelled
to set, up an Industrial Concilia-
tion. and Arbitration Inquiry
Board to -held public hearings
on the act. and to recommend
changes in. provincial labor legis-
lation, This board, which was
made up of representatives of
the Liberal, Conservative and
CCF parties, started its. deliber-
ations on- June 19, 1951. It held .
earings in all parts of the prov-
ince, 28 sittings in all, and lis-
tened to 57 briefs. After this
mountain. of labor the board pro-
duced a mouse. »

The ICA Act Inquiry Board
report failed to recommend the-
needed changes. Although some
concessions were made to the
unions, the main anti-labor prin-
ciples of the act were left intact>
thus reflecting the demands of
big business that the anti-union
features of the act be left as
they were. :

During the hearings on the
IGA Act, the Labor-Progressive
party published its brief outlin-
ing labor’s principle objections

to the present act. In its open” .

ing statement the brief warned:
“Tf the inquiry board limits it-
self to minor revisions it will
fail to strike at the root prob-
lems which have caused so much
bitterness and discontent among
British Columbia’s organized
working population.” That’s ex-

berta, as in B.C., automobile in-
surance rates are exceedingly
high, Competent authorities
have estimated that present,
rates. could be cut by more than
half and still leave high profits.

The AFA, FUA and the Al-
berta Association of Municipal
Districts have been demanding
government auto insurance at
cost. Again there has been a
steady refusal by the Social
Credit government which doesn’t
want to interfere with the pro-
fits of the big insurance com-
panies,

Financial Burdens of Munici-
palities; In Alberta land assess-
ment has been revised upwards
over the past several years with
a resultant big increase in the
taxes paid by farmers. Muni-
cipalities have to contribute to
many social services such as
Mothers Allowance, care of the

actly what the Inquiry Board did
in more than 90. proposed
amendments, most of them in
wording or technical changes.
e

The main concessions labor
succeeded in getting written into
the report were:

@ More protection for indus-
trial. unions from craft union
raiding. Under the proposed
change no craft union will be
able to apply for certification
of a group of workers where a
contract is in effect with an
industrial union until 10 months
after the industrial union has
entered a collective agreement,
or renewed it.

@ Shortening of the period of
conciliation. Application for a
conciliation officer can be made
five days after bargaining starts,
instead of ten as at present.
Also the time for nominating
representatives to a beard is re-
duced from five to three days,
and nominees are to be given
three days instead of five to
name a chairman,

@ Replacement of the govern-
ment-supervised strike vote by

Kaytn provocation

READER, Vancouver, B.C.:
When reading Dr. Leopold In-

feld’s article on “‘The Katyn
Provocation” I recalled how
Joseph Goebbels treated the

matter in his diaries, which ap-
peared in book form a few years

ago, edited by Louis P. Lochner. |

“Polish mass graves have been
found near Smolensk,’ wrote
- Goebbels on April 9, 1943. “The
Bolsheviks simply shot down and
then shovelled into mass graves
come 10,000 Polish prisoners.”

Living in Berlin, and not
knowing everythng that went on
at the front and in the German-
occupied areas of Poland and the
Ukraine, Goebbels evidently
thought that the Katyn murders

we

A

t

“Look, folks: atom bombs on television! This will kill you!”

aged and infirm, child welfare. ~

The Alberta government pays
only a small proportion of the
cost of primary and secondary
education (about one third) and
contributes little to the cost of
construction of schools and hos-
pitals, (In 1952 the Alberta
government will be spending
only $500,000 in hospital con-

Labor Relations Board scrutiny
of the vote, taken by the union.

In many other respects the
inquiry board made proposals
which will further strengthen
the power of the Labor Relations
Board over the trade unions, No
important feature of the act has
been changed. Even: the few
concessions labor got written
into the report are by no means
secure, The next legislature is
expected to act on the report,
and Libera] and Tory members
of the old legislature have al-

. yeady made it clear that if re-

elected they, will oppose some
of the concessions made to the
unions, which as we have seen,
are few indeed.

The trade unions find them-
selves in this position: If the.
Tory-Liberal gang is returned to
office they can expect the former
anti-labor policies to be contin-
ued, even if all the proposals
of the inquiry board are enacted,
which appears unlikely. On the
other hand, if a powerful group
of Jabor and people’s candidates.
are elected they will be able to
carry a strong fight, with back,
ing from the powerful

would make fine propaganda for
the Nazis. But soon a, hitch ap-
peared. Writing on May 8, 1943,
he confesses:

“Unfortunately German muni-
tions were found in the graves
at Katyn. The question of how
they got there needs clarifica-
tion. . . . In any case it is es-
cential that this incident be kept
a secret. If it were to come to
the knowledge of the enemy the
whole Katyn affair would have
to be dropped.” j

His final comments on Katyn
appear on May 29, 1943, when
the German army was in full re-
treat:

“infortunately we have had
to give up Katyn. The Bolshe-
viks undoubtedly will soon find’
that we shot the 12,000 Polish

election

’ response throughout the

labor ~

PACIFIC 'TRIBUNE — MAY 16,

struction grants.)
Naturally, all this results i
very high taxes to rural ti Ff
payers. Yet the Social credit”
government has a surplus, i ,
serve, of $8 million, with 4
it could, if it chose. relieve the
burdens of the municipal
and lighten the tax load n0
carried by the farmers.

ange

movement, to make big ch
then

in our labor laws, bringin
more in line with the ne@™
the working people. Consedvey
ly, the June 12 elections 4!
decisive importance to He
ganized workers of British ~
lumbia. i,
The Labor-Progressivé :
election program outline> ~ yy
the labor movement requit®
way of labor legislatiom: 1p
“The LPP stands for Te?!
ment of the present indvé 0
Conciliation and Arbitl®
Act by a democratic et
code which will end gov
ment interference in unio
fairs, simplify and mati

untary government C°”
”

gare

pat

“a
c=)

tion and conciliation.
This proposal will fin

trade union movement.
portance of this provine 2
tion: to organized labor

necessary that workers ye?
their ranks in each constit

to elect men and worl.
can be relied upon to fie"
better labor legislatio® me
and foremost among ¢

LPP candidates. ie

; e
officers. That episode bi
is going to cause Us Ce
tle trouble in the future epl®

These articles fro |”
diary are quite yevealiDe:

Their god is Mam

H. VIGOR, White
Visit that holy 0
ington, and what
the holy prophets of

_ busy selling the peopl?
river. \

What have
ers*of the ‘freee?
tem given the people “5
ited States, Can@ a3"
countries of weste
Misery, poverty, d
war. ne